A big bronze pocket watch is embedded in the sidewalk on the 300 block of E. Main St., set at seven minutes to six o'clock. Scores of people tromp over it every day.

But it's older than living memory, so few know its story. It's just there.

Its provenance goes back to one Arnold Friedberger of Laupheim, Germany. In 1860, Friedberger immigrated to the Stockton area, drawn by the Gold Rush. He fathered five sons.

One, Maurice, opened a ritzy Main Street jewelry store called The Diamond Palace about 1895. In 1915, Maurice moved his shop a couple blocks east to 337 E. Main. He sank the pocket watch into the sidewalk as a way of hanging out his shingle.

Maurice left the business to his son, Leo. The Diamond Palace stayed in business until about 1966. The reason it closed is unknown, though that's about the time the northside mall drained downtown retail.

Over the years, the building behind the pocket watch was remodeled. For a while, an ATM stood there. Now a blank wall does.

Though the exact date the pocket watch was laid is unknown, it could be approaching its 100th birthday.